'Dogs should play for letters across chest
Individual goals are great, but the reason to play is for each other and school
By Darrell Copeland III
The Collegian
THERE IS NO DOUBT about it, this year’s Fresno State baseball team is the most talented one in years — yet, that’s not enough.
The Bulldogs have played well enough to own a 30-16 record — yet, that’s a number that should be higher.
The baseball team is possibly as physically talented as its ever been, yet the concept of team hasn’t sunk in enough. Sure the guys are on a team, and hang out in their down time together, but are they really in it for the best interest of Fresno State? How much does being a Bulldog really mean to them?
A quote that is famous in the sports world immediately comes to mind, thanks to former New York Jets coach and current Kansas City Chiefs coach Herman Edwards.
Andrew Riggs / The Collegian
The Fresno State baseball team has struggled early on in games at times, which has forced them to come from behind. |
“You play to win the game!”
It is no secret that anyone who plays in the major collegiate sports — football, basketball and baseball — that they have dreams of making it to the big time. But the thing is, playing with a team first attitude is what gets you noticed as an individual.
Think about it, who gets the louder applause, a player who singles, or a player who lays down a sacrifice bunt, but does his best to beat it out. Your answer is the latter of the two.
The same goes for the player who hits the easy, jogging, stand up double and the player who hustles out of the box to make it a triple. Once again, fans will stand and applaud for the latter.
Fans come to support the team because of they love them some Bulldogs sports, and they love it because they are proud of the way the team represents themselves and the community.
There is a reason attendance has declined, and it’s not because there is a new coach. Think team performance instead.
Head coach Mike Batesole is passionate about the game of baseball and would never do anything to hurt the Bulldog name. He left a thriving, major-leaguer producing Northridge program to have what was once considered — and maybe still — one of the best collegiate baseball coaching positions in the country.
He is trying to do two things at once — return the program to its roots of 40-win seasons and put his players into the major league farm system. In that order.
I grew up watching Fresno State baseball, and right now, things are not the same as they were in the Bulldog World Series teams of the past. Something has been missing from the aura of the Diamond Dogs — and it starts with a t and ends in eam.
Play for the team and then yourself. If it happens in that order, personal dreams are more likely to happen.
I’ve seen that as the case too many times to know it is fact.
My question is to the Bulldog baseball players themselves — what does the logo on your uniform mean to you?
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